


The Jacket

by Forestfish



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: College, Crack, Dick Jokes, Drugs, Emotional, Humor, M/M, Magic, Memory Loss, Nonsense, Not Beta Read, Parody, Puns & Word Play, Quests, Recreational Drug Use
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-08
Updated: 2015-07-08
Packaged: 2018-04-08 07:41:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4296348
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Forestfish/pseuds/Forestfish
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He’d lost. He’d lost completely. He would never, ever remember their love. He would marry that North Korean girl and live a happy straight and socially accepted life.</p><p>And tears started pouring from his eyes as he smiled weakly and blinked the lights away. That was close.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Jacket

**Author's Note:**

> First of all, hello and thanks for clicking this work! 
> 
> How are you? At least ok, I hope. I'm ok, too, in case you're wondering.
> 
> Alright, enough stalling.
> 
> I don't know what you came here looking for but, if you read the tags, you certainly didn't come here looking for a tearjerker story. I hope you didn't, because there's nothing like that in here, sorry.  
> Now, if you came here looking for bad puns, dumb word plays, and obscure references to other series, you came to the right place and I hope you're not disappointed. 
> 
> You may want to sit down and take a deep breath because this will be long. And trippy. Especially trippy.
> 
> Nobody's ready for this. I'm not ready either.
> 
> Have a nice trip.

 

As soon as I saw you, I knew an adventure was going to happen.

**Winnie the Pooh**

 

* * *

 

 “Yeah, I remember that, don’t worry. My memory is fine!” Bokuto said laughing “What’s the Kanji for it?”

Akaashi didn’t even blink at that and asked the doctor for a pen and a piece of paper. The doctor had a pen, but she didn’t have a piece of paper, so he wrote it on a piece Rizla rolling paper that he grabbed from his own pocket.

“京治” he wrote and handed it over to Bokuto.

“Thanks!” He exclaimed admiring his handwriting.

And everything seemed to be ok; for about half an hour.

“What!? But we’re both guys...” Bokuto said raising an eyebrow as Kuroo told him that Akaashi was his boyfriend “That doesn’t make any sense…”

Akaashi felt his heart sink.

Kuroo facepalmed.

 

 

* * *

 

 

It was 3am and Akaashi was sitting on an old three-legged stool at his rustic XVII century desk. There was a chapped ‘ _Best Mum’_ mug filled with steaming coffee before him and an owl shaped ashtray beside it with a half smoked joint in it. There was also a thick candle that spread a soft yellow kind of orange kind of white light across the surface of the old piece of furniture and casted mysterious shadows on the wall behind the young man, and dark shadows on the fair skin of his face and neck.

He could swear he was prepared for this. He was totally ready. He’d gotten a Moleskine™ notebook and a quill and ink with a 50% discount and now he was 100% ready to write down his painful thoughts and finally get them out of his chest.

 _«Dear Dairy…»_ He wrote on top of the page after taking a sip of his coffee.

Tears started pouring slowly down his face.

The pain he felt was immense.

“Shit…” he said in a weak voice, choking on his tears “This coffee is too milky...”  He mumbled, sadly putting the mug away.

He was alone in his room, the bed was unmade and there were washed clothes piled up on top of it in an uncharacteristic mess.

He scratched the title of the entry with the tip of his quill and decided that he should think of something else. That was too cliché. He needed to be original, otherwise his feelings would also sound cliché and fake and he couldn’t have that. His pain was really real, the rawest pain he’d ever felt.

Putting on his headphones, he turned his iPod on and set it to play [‘ _It’s too late’_ by Evermore (Dirty South Remix)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nr3ufWwla6k) because there was nothing like a techno remix of a sad song when he was mildly high and feeling the blues.

Maybe he should pretend that his diary entries were letters addressed to a really cool friend. Yes, he was totally going to do that. What a terrific idea.

He turned on his MacBook Air and used the [Manly Name Generator](http://spencerdub.me/manlyname/). He clicked ‘Generate a Name’until he was happy with the result and wrote it down.

_«Dear Gaston Van BuffStud,… »_

_«Perfect. »_ He thought proudly.

He then proceeded to write the missive to his new friend.

_«How are you doing?_

_I’m feeling like shit, thanks._

_Why, you ask? You better be ready, because this is an excruciating story._

_Like a week ago, Bo-san hit his head and lost part of his memory._

_And by ‘part of his memory’ I mean literally just the fact that he’s gay and that we were dating before the accident. How can you forget something that is born with you and suddenly become mildly homophobic? I have no idea._

_The guilt is eating me alive, Gaston, although technically it wasn’t my fault, even though it happened because he was trying to impress me._

_In short, we were both very much baked and shit happened._

_Not just pleasantly high and laughing at doors and stuff, or a bit relaxed like I am at the moment. We were actually very fucking high._

_Basically, and completely out of the blue, he felt like doing something that would make me think higher of his physical prowess and I snorted because lol ‘higher’ and I don’t know, he must have taken that as a green light to do the dumb shit his stoned mind told him to do, because normally I would call him out on his bullshit and push him away from danger, but since I didn’t, he went for it. I swear that my ‘Bokuto’s About to Screw Up’ senses tingled but, considering the state I was in, I couldn’t react on time and shit went downhill from there._

_Or downstairs._

_The last thing he told me before he hopped on the ironing board and slid down the stairs to hit his head full force against that weird guy that lives downstairs’ door was ‘Watch me, babe, I’m gonna make you proud!’. Hint: he didn’t._

_The door broke in half but he didn’t break his head even though he blacked out right away. He was up and about half an hour later and even walked into the ambulance. After a CT they found there was apparently nothing wrong with his brain, not a scratch. He’s thick headed. At first we thought that there was nothing wrong with his memory either, but apparently there was. And how wrong it was…_

_Anyway, it’s been AN ENTIRE WEEK since then and he still hasn’t remembered that we were gay together. He keeps throwing his ‘_ no homo _’ bull all over the place and it’s destroying the stuff in my chest…how’s it called? The hat? Heat? Hearth? Shit, the pot it’s starting to hit and I’m starting to see my music lol so I’m going to call it Richard, like the nice Australian exchange student that lives upstairs._

_I swear I tried to keep my cool and pretend everything was ok, but not even pot seems to be soothing my sadness._

_Walking around our apartment and seeing the stuff that screamed ‘us’ was horrible. And that’s not a metaphor to say that it was overwhelmingly painful because of the memories. I could literally hear screaming because I was still tripping. That night we had tried acid for the first time and maaan, never again. 10/10 would not recommend._

_Even looking at his dumb fridge notes cut my heart._

_Sticky notes saying stuff like ‘Felt like shaving my legs for the first time, clogged the bathtub and tried to fix it lol we may need a plumber. Be back in an hour!  ps.: you have to feel them. They’re so smooth!’ he’d literally broken the bathtub trying to fix it and I have no idea how he did it. There was also an especially dumb one that read ‘You’ve probably noticed already, but I left the tap open and flooded the kitchen. I panicked and used the big yellow jacket you gave me last year to get rid of most of the water. You may wonder why I didn’t use the mop, but that’s another story. I have a good explanation for everything I swear!!! Went out to take the jacket to the dry cleaner. Brb’ Turns out he’d left the house because Dick (the Australian exchange student) was screaming and he took it as a challenge so they went on screaming back and forth until neither of them could speak anymore (that was the reason why he forgot about the tap). He’d used the mop to kill a wasp that had gotten into our apartment and broke it in half. Very good explanations as you can see._

_He took a soaked jacket to a dry cleaner, though. I wonder how that went. Not so well, I assume, given that he returned home at four in the morning and he wasn’t even drunk or high._

_There was also the Kangaroo calendar that Dick gave us, filled with Bo-san’s almost unintelligible gibberish in dorky notes like ‘Bokuto ate an entire watermelon as a challenge and spent the rest of the day in the toilet lol’ and ‘Keiji won 50 pineapples in the carnival’s shooting booth bc of his sick aim!’ we ate pineapples for 2 weeks. It was awful and it’s making me cry. I can’t see pineapples without feeling sick to this day. Who the hell gives 50 entire pineapples as a prize!?_

_The memories are killing me, Gaston, there’s just too many of those things._

_Like, why can’t he remember us? I mean, I cleaned our apartment, got rid of all the things that could eventually make him remember his homosexuality, including the stupid notes and lube and stuff like that and he still doesn’t remember anything. What am I doing wrong, Gaston? I need answers._

_Currently we’re just roommates and I’m his ‘buddy’, ‘the Aka-man’, the ‘big A’. The A-man, even, like I’m Jesus or something…_

_He used to call me Keiji._

_Keiji-chan when he was high. Babe when he was very high. Now we even have a special handshake which includes some ‘no homo’ butt slapping on his part. He’s still very touchy-feely with me, but it’s entirely platonic. That’s probably his repressed homosexuality speaking louder than his words and I think that that’s really something, because he is really loud. That annoys me sometimes, but it’s also kind of cute and makes me want to smooch his face. But I can’t do that because if tried, Mr. Oh-I-remember-everything-except-for-my-dick-in-your-ass would probably start crying and go sit in the corner scarred for life because Gay hates gods or something._

_My Dick is broken, Gaston, only Bo-san can fix it and I’m not sure if he wants to anymore._

_Not now, not ever._

_Yours truly,_

_The Big A »_

And with that Akaashi finished his first letter to Gaston Van BuffStud and admired his work for a moment. He had a pretty handwriting even when he was high.

He patted himself on the back for that and nearly sprained his wrist.

 

 

The night was fresh and the late summer night sky was clean and cloudless, but he couldn’t see any stars thanks to the light pollution and nasty big city stuff like that. He looked longingly out of the window and could barely see through his watery puffy eyes.

Suddenly Bokuto entered the room almost knocking the door down.

“HEY, HEY, HEY!”

He even stooped over so that he wouldn’t fall. Remaining silent for a moment, he studied the room with his eyes, noticing the mess of washed clothes on the unmade bed and the high Akaashi fumbling to get one of his desk’s drawers open to hide his notebook.

“I can’t believe this…” Bokuto muttered kind of disheartened as Akaashi slammed the drawer shut “You’re getting high without me?” He asked slouching “I thought we were best friends…”

Akaashi stared at him with squinty eyes and a dull expression for a few seconds. Bokuto was in his superman boxers and a white t-shirt that read ‘Here I am! What are your other two wishes?’.

«Remember our love. » Akaashi thought in reply to his shirt, «And fuck me against the wall. » He thought dejectedly afterwards. He was so sad that not even pot was hitting him the right way. Such overwhelming sadness. He felt like he’d drunk an entire ocean of sorrow. A really big ocean. The Panthalassa or whatever it was called.

He then silently offered Bokuto the rest of his joint, which he gladly accepted, lighting it on the candle Akaashi had been using to write his letter to Gaston Van BuffStud. He wasn’t writing with the candle, alright? That’s not what you do with candles. He was using it for illumination. Using candles while high wasn’t a very bright idea, by the way, but they were college students, so they obviously didn’t care much about burning the house down.

Bokuto sat on the floor leaning against Akaashi’s bed.

Akaashi removed his headphones and threw them onto his desk and then stood up from his stool and sat beside his best buddy.

There was a moment of silence between them as Bokuto took a few deep drags of the joint.

 “You were really high when the stuff with the door happened” Bokuto reminded laughing “and so was Kuroo!”

“Yeah…” Akaashi mumbled vaguely staring at his desk.

It was so pretty; the wood had aged so well, he could see the dreams and thoughts of the past sipping through the crevices of the old material. It was a rainbow coloured dance of beautiful shapes.

“That doesn’t make any sense.” Bokuto proceeded, pensively furrowing his brows “I mean we’ve been friends since high school and we spend a lot of time together, and yeah I think you’re pretty and have a great ass, but anybody can see that, right? Besides, it really makes no sense.” He asked, shuffling a bit and gesturing with his hands as if it was really obvious.

“Sure, I’m the ass.” Akaashi nodded in agreement “Back at you.”

Bokuto was happy with that and they ended up sleeping together on the floor with Bokuto taking all of Akaashi’s personal space in a stupid stoned hug and drooling all over the collar of his t-shirt.

All in the no homo spirit of course.

 

If stupidity got us into this mess, then why can't it get us out?

**Will Rogers  
**

* * *

 

 

 

“There’s nothing I can do, though.” Akaashi shrugged, sipping on his coffee with a blank expression “He’s forgotten everything about it and I can’t force him to remember.”

Kuroo was sitting across Akaashi at the table of a cosy coffee shop and he was quite annoyed.

“I’m done, seriously.” Kuroo gestured dismissively with his hands as he leaned against the back of his seat “I can’t deal with that kind of dumb stuff, sorry.”

“It’s not my fault, though.” Akaashi muttered.

Kuroo sighed. He didn’t deserve that.

“You’ve just told me that you got high together last night and today you woke up with him drooling on you and his hand down the back of your pants.” He reminded him.

“Yes.” Akaashi confirmed.

“And you don’t find it weird?” Kuroo asked as patiently as he could, because he was a nice guy.

Akaashi shrugged placing the mug on the table and sighing.

“I know he’s repressing it.” He stated “I don’t know why, though.”

Kuroo brought his hands close to each other and pressed them together against his pursed lips. He inhaled heavily through his nose as he closed his eyes.

“I would have never imagined that you were this spineless.” He accused opening his eyes into a slit.

Akaashi had been avoiding Kuroo’s eyes by looking at the mug, but he stopped doing so on that moment. He looked him straight in the eyes and Kuroo held his gaze with his unimpressed look.

Akaashi didn’t say anything but he also didn’t break the eye contact. It was Kuroo who looked away first with a sigh.

“I’ve always considered you to be a smart guy and that hasn’t changed even though you’ve changed a bit after coming to college.” He said crossing his arms on top of the table.

Akaashi had indeed changed a bit after going to college. Or maybe he’d just found who he truly was inside because of the sudden freedom. Happens all the time.

He suddenly felt something shaking. It was his phone in his jeans’ pocket. Kuroo reached for his own phone at the same time.

«From: Bokuto

T. bmo? »

“What was it this time?” Kuroo sighed “Can you get this one? I’m kind of short this month.”

Akaashi nodded and stood up, leaving without another word.

T. bmo was short for ‘Trouble. Bail me out.’ The story of how they ended up with an acronym for it is long, stupid and irrelevant.  It won’t be told.

 

 

My heart is broken in the face of the stupidity of my species.

**Joni Mitchell**

* * *

 

 

“So there was this child…” Bokuto started shooting loudly, dramatically moving his arms as soon as they left the police station “and he was like, lost and crying. So I was trying to cheer him up…”

And he proceeded to tell him how somehow the kid ended up crying even louder because he was scared of Bokuto’s stunts until his mother eventually appeared followed by a policeman, who promptly arrested Bokuto thinking that he was a child molester. Bokuto had been sulking in the police station until Akaashi showed up and patted him on the back telling him that it was ok and explained everything to the police officer.

“That’s what you get for being nice!” Bokuto complained before smiling widely and slapping Akaashi on the back with such force that he nearly fell over “Thanks for saving me, A-man!”

“Any time.” Akaashi said coughing before sighing “You should try not being so loud around children, though.”

“I’ll try!” Bokuto promised cheerfully “Now, let’s get some grilled meat! I’ll pay!”

“It’s 3pm.” Akaashi observed.

“Perfect time for meat!” Bokuto insisted, throwing an arm around Akaashi’s shoulders and pulling him closer “Best buddies meat!”

Akaashi deadpanned. He mentally cried a river.

 

I love you no matter what you do, but do you have to do so much of it?

**Jean Illsley Clarke**

 

* * *

 

 

_«Dear Gaston Van BuffStud,_

_This time I am not intoxicated._

_He still hasn’t remembered._

_The bromance is intensifying and so is my sadness._

_Kuroo annoyed me quite a bit this afternoon. I know that he means well, though. He’s Bo-san’s long term friend and they often get in trouble together. He’s more mature than Bo-san, though; he just tends to be dragged into his reckless pace, much like everyone, including myself. I respect Kuroo very much, really, but calling me spineless was too much._

_I am not spineless. It’s not my fault he forgot everything about us and refuses to embrace the rainbow again. It’s completely out of my control._

_But I can’t stop thinking about it._

_How come he only forgot that he was gay and we were dating? How could he keep all the memories from high school and playing volleyball together and all those things, and forget that? He was the one who confessed to me. He was the one who nagged me into choosing the same university as the one that gave him the scholarship so that we could be together._

_But maybe it was a mistake. I’m probably better off as his mum-buddy anyway._

_Yours truly,_

_Akaashi_

_Ps.: The word was heart. Though that’s a metaphor for emotions. »_

 

He stored his notebook in his desk’s drawer again and sighed.

This letter was substantially shorter than the first one, perhaps because he wasn’t high and was thinking clearer now. Drugs tend to affect people’s better judgment.

It wasn’t very late yet, only around midnight, and he didn’t have anything due the next day for school so he was going to canalize his angst into his favourite artistic activity given that it was the perfect time for it.

He put on his ripped jeans and his baseball sweater, placed his ‘Dope’ snapback on his head and left his room.

That was who he truly was inside: a pothead hipster swagger.

“Where you goin’?” Bokuto was in his boxers sprawled on the couch watching ‘How Stuff Works’ and sipping juice from a box of O.J.

“Out.” Akaashi informed gesturing dismissively with his hand and shutting the door behind him on his way, well, out.

Bokuto stared dumbly at the door.

That reply felt weird, almost as if he was supposed to tell him where he was going because of some sort of social convention concerning some kinds of relationships. He couldn’t put his finger on it, though, and he felt restless.

He decided to call for help.

“What do you want, Bokuto?” Kuroo sounded exasperated when he picked up the phone.

“Did I wake you, bro?” Bokuto asked raising an eyebrow. He’d known Kuroo for years, he usually didn’t sleep early.

There was huffing and sighing on the other of the line and it was quite obvious that Bokuto’s phone call had interrupted something important. _Very important._

“Worse.” Kuroo huffed in resignation “What’s the matter, bro?"

“I don’t know, this is kind of weird, but I feel confused…” Bokuto confided “Akaashi just left without telling me where he’s going...”

Kuroo wanted to punch somebody in the face.

“So?” He grunted, narrowing his eyes.

“Well…” Bokuto started hesitantly “for some reason it doesn’t feel right…”

Kuroo couldn’t believe the kind of shit he had to deal with.

“Look, man, you’re a great friend and I respect Akaashi for his patience, but I’m done with that.  Good luck finding out what’s up.”

“What?”

“Good luck.” Kuroo repeated “Now excuse me, but I have something to finish here, alright?”

 _“That idiot’s still in denial?”_ Someone asked on Kuroo’s side of the line. They sounded annoyed.

Bokuto furrowed his brows as he recognized the voice.

“Is that Tsukishima?” He asked “Where are you?”

“In my bedroom.” Kuroo replied dully.

Bokuto felt betrayed.

“Oh, man, you guys are having a sleepover and you didn’t invite me!? I thought we were best friends!” He complained “Who else is there?”

Kuroo rubbed his eyes with the index finger and the thumb of his free hand.

“Nobody else is here, Bokuto. It’s just me and Kei. Alone. In my bedroom.” He said trying to hint at what they were doing there without actually saying it “Talk to you later.” And he hung up.

Bokuto remained silent for a few moments staring at his phone after Kuroo hung up. There was something there he couldn’t quite grasp.

What could they possibly be doing there? Studying? Nah, they were taking different degrees. Redecorating Kuroo’s room? No way, it was too late for redecorations. Not that there’s like an hour to redecorate rooms. Now that he thought about it, why did it feel weird to redecorate rooms at night? His thoughts were drifting quickly and he shook his head, trying to remain focused on what mattered.

What wasn’t he getting? What could Tsukishima and Kuroo be doing alone in Kuroo’s room at that late hour? It was truly a mystery for Bokuto.

He wished there was a ‘How Stuff Works’ episode explaining what was up instead of the one about popcorn he was watching; even though popcorn was very important too.

He eventually focused on popcorn and forgot about his worries. Akaashi would be alright.

So much for that.

 

I know a lot of people think I'm dumb. Well, at least I ain't no educated fool.

**Leon Spinks**

 

* * *

 

 

“DJ Trawka is in the house let me hear a ‘Hey yo!’” The announcer announced and the crowded disco exploded in a sonorous ‘Hey yo!’.

DJ Trawka was Akaashi.

He stood behind the mixing table with his usual poker face and raised his hand in a greeting that was met with much enthusiasm.

He was a part-time DJ and his dubstep remixes of classical music were very intense and heartfelt. Clubbers loved them because they felt smart without feeling lame about it and actually enjoying themselves while at it. It was a win/win thing.

After putting on his fluorescent green swag glasses on to fully get in the mood, he placed one side of the headphones on his ear and held it in place and started mixing one song that matched his broken heart.

[Chopin’s Nocturne no.20 in C-Sharp Minor](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2WIEDo8Q6U). His favourite.

Too bad it didn’t have a matching sad name to go with it. It didn’t make his sadness and his broken heart any less real, alright?

He shuffled along with the beat, mixing it wholeheartedly, the flickering lights and Mary Jane making him lose track of time and space but not of the beat. The beat was sacred.

He put all the melancholy of his heart in the remix and it was very beautiful. Everyone cried a little along with DJ Trawka.

It was probably because of the pot’s smoke, though.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Bokuto’s partial memory loss had been going on for around two weeks.

Kuroo was going nuts with Akaashi’s lack of initiative and Bokuto’s lack of common sense. He’d mostly given up. Tsukishima was getting pissed, too, and so were all their friends. Nobody was willing to put up with that kind of unnecessary drama anymore.

Akaashi was sitting at a table of a coffee shop with Kuroo and Tsukishima sitting across him.

That’s usually the place where young people usually gather to talk about stuff over a cup of coffee or any other beverage of their preference. Tsukishima preferred a good glass of milk and a delicious piece of strawberry shortcake for example, and that is nothing to be ashamed of.

“What’ll you do if he finds some girl who’s willing to put up with his… _antics_ for God knows what reason?” Tsukishima asked narrowing his eyes in annoyance as he slowly cut a piece of his shortcake.

“’ _Antics’_ is a polite way to put it.” Kuroo repeated smirking in his direction before looking at Akaashi “But Glasses is right. He’s a really nice guy and he’s fun to be around, so it’s only a matter of time.”

Akaashi shrugged as he sipped on his coffee.

“There’s nothing I can do, though.” Akaashi muttered.

“I will be honest with you.” Tsukishima offered as he forked and ate a piece of his shortcake and wiped his mouth with a napkin “I only agreed to come because _he_ ” he slightly motioned his head in Kuroo’s direction “said you’d offered to pay for our meal, otherwise I wouldn’t have come. My opinion about your situation should be very clear.”

Kuroo laughed at his incredibly rude politeness.

“He thinks you’re being childish and illogical.” Kuroo explained “And so do I, man.”

“What am I supposed to do, then?” Akaashi asked in a huff looking at them.

“I don’t know…” Tsukishima started pretending to be thinking “maybe tell him? Or if that’s too obvious, maybe show him stuff he wrote for you or something? He told me he’s one sappy idiot.” He motioned his head in Kuroo’s direction again.

“Why am I always ‘ _he_ ’?” Kuroo asked turning to him and pursing his lips as if he was very hurt.

Tsukishima disdainfully glanced at him.

“Would you prefer ‘she’?” He asked.

“Only if it would make you happy, young master~” Kuroo joked affectedly gesturing with his hand in a pretend bow.

Akaashi stared at their weird couple behaviour and sighed.

Tsukishima noticed and scrunched his nose.

“Don’t give us that look, it’s disgusting.” He scowled.

“Yeah, man, get a hold of yourself.” Kuroo agreed making a face.

“Sorry.” Akaashi muttered “And I can’t do that, I have none of those things. I burned everything.”

“What!?” Kuroo and Tsukishima asked in unison and disbelief.

“Why the fuck would you do that!?” Kuroo asked in shock as Tsukishima shook his head and finished his dessert “Why not stash them away to check while crying and eating ice-cream or something? That would be romantic and sad, right?”

“I was planning on doing something like that,” Akaashi confessed “but then he entered the room and I panicked a little.”

“Wow. How fast can you burn stuff?” Kuroo asked raising an eyebrow.

“I was already holding a lighter.” Akaashi explained. They nodded in understanding.

“What did you tell him to explain the random incineration, though?” Tsukishima asked.

“I didn’t have to.” Akaashi replied with a shrug.

Tsukishima looked pensively out of the window and asked himself what he had ever done to deserve having to deal with stupid people all the time.

Kuroo smiled patiently, but his niceness was reaching its limit.

“Isn’t there something you can use to trigger his memory?”

“What if he dies from the shock?” Akaashi asked.

“Do you prefer to hand him over to someone else?” Kuroo asked condescendingly placing his hands on the table.

“I want him to be happy.” Akaashi shrugged looking very sad “Even if it’s without me.”

Suddenly [_‘I can’t make you love me’_ by Bonnie Raitt](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOzMGYCTn-Q) started playing in the coffee shop completely out of the blue as if to enhance the sadness felt by one person in a room filled with people.

“That is so lame.” Tsukishima said looking around unable to stop himself.

“Fucking tell me about it, oh my God.” Kuroo rolled his eyes “I can’t believe this song.” He then turned to Akaashi “Screw that stoic bullshit, man. There must be something else. This is the 21st century, photos are digital for the most part. Don’t you have backups or something?”

“No, I prefer to stick to the roots, my camera is analog.”  Akaashi informed.

“Hipsters.” Tsukishima scrunched his nose in disdain.

Kuroo rubbed his face in exasperation. He had tried and nobody had put more effort into that dumb situation than him, but that was it.

He was 100% done.

On that moment Akaashi noticed some guy walking outside wearing an outrageous brown leather jacket that reached his feet. He squinted and noticed that there were actually two guys walking side by side wearing matching jackets and matching sunglasses. [Chamillionaire’s _Ridin’ Dirty_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nf4DhXy9oU) wouldn’t have been uncalled for as their background music at that moment. One of them was quite tall and had a buzz cut and the other was quite short and had a bleached tuft of hair falling to his eyes.

They breathed style, it was beautiful.

And manly, especially manly.

“Aren’t those Tanaka and Nishinoya?” He asked Tsukishima.

“Yes.” Tsukishima deadpanned.

“Those are some rad jackets.” Kuroo nodded in approval “I have no idea how they can stand them with this heat.”

They noticed the guys inside the coffee shop and waved enthusiastically. Tsukishima covered his face and Kuroo waved back with a smirk.

In less than a minute they were busting loudly into the coffee shop and sitting beside them. They ordered two glasses of O.J. as they took off their sunglasses.

“’Sup guys? Whatcha doin’ here?” Nishinoya asked cheerfully.

“Nice jackets, guys.” Kuroo complimented.

“Thanks! We got them half the price from a nice fellow in a dark alley two blocks away.” Tanaka thanked proudly, smoothing the material with his hands.

“Bros’ Jackets.” Nishinoya informed proudly “BJs for short!”

 Nobody spoke for a moment.

“BJs sounds great.” Kuroo offered with honesty.

“Yes, I agree.” Tsukishima nodded.

Akaashi felt his eyes well up. He could still remember his last BJ and he wasn’t thinking about any jackets.

“Wow, man, chill.” Nishinoya comforted, patting his back “You can buy one too if you want, if you run I think you can still find the dude.”

“No, he’s sad because Bokuto still hasn’t remembered he was gay for him and the small things make him think about it.” Kuroo explained.

Nishinoya was suddenly quite pissed.

“WHAT THE HELLl!?”

“Oh no…” Tsukishima muttered. He knew it was coming. He could almost smell it.

Nishinoya hopped on the table with a clattering thud, grabbed Akaashi by the collar of his shirt and pulled him up, startling him.

“LIVE A MANLIER LIFE, AKAASHI!” He yelled “DO YOU LOVE THIS MAN!?”

“YES!” Akaashi yelled back in shock.

As expected everybody in the coffee shop stopped doing what they were doing to look at the scene they were making.

“AND DO YOU WANT HIM TO REMEMBER YOU!?”

“YES, I DO!”

“THEN STOP CRYING LIKE A BABY AND DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT, DAMMIT!” Nishinoya yelled angrily, releasing his collar and dropping him on his ass. He nearly fell off the bench.

The light from the window hit Nishinoya on the back and he looked like some sort of thundering Messiah in an outrageous leather jacket.

It was pure manly inspiration.

“You’re right…” Akaashi mumbled.

“I CAN’T HEAR YOU!” Nishinoya yelled.

“YOU’RE RIGHT!” Akaashi yelled choking and coughing. He’d never yelled that much in his entire life and his throat felt raspy already.

“That’s better!” Nishinoya approved, hopping off the table “What are you gonna do?”

“I don’t kn-“ he started but then he looked at his leather jacket and had an epiphany “The jacket…” He muttered.

“What jacket?” Everyone asked in unison.

“The jacket.” Akaashi repeated standing up, suddenly filled with hope “Thank you, guys. I’m leaving now. I’ll get the bill.” He avowed as he grabbed money from his wallet to get the bill, before almost tripping on Tanaka to get out of the table and rushing to the bar. He then ran out of the coffee shop.

 

Fortune favors the bold.

**Virgil**

 

* * *

 

When Akaashi got home, though, he was met with a not so pleasant surprise.

Bokuto was home and he had company. It was a young female. She didn’t look very Japanese, though and she looked kind of sick, as if she’d been in the water for a long time.

“I’m getting married!” Bokuto informed cheerfully.

Akaashi deadpanned and looked from him to the girl as if waiting for an explanation.

“I know this may sound out of the blue because we’ve only known each other for like two days, but she like, swam all the way here from North Korea, and I think this is fate, man. We’re _soulmaters!_ ”

“Soulmates.” Akaashi corrected “And _what_?”

Bokuto slouched a little and looked disheartened.

“You don’t think it’s the right thing?” He asked.

“I…” Akaashi huffed. He didn’t like it when Bokuto sulked but he wasn’t high enough to let that slip with a sad ‘Okay…’. He’d just had an epiphany and he was actually thinking this time. “I’m not saying it’s not the right thing, or at least it wouldn’t be if you were doing it for the right reasons.” He pursed his lips somewhat annoyed “Maybe a little rushed, yes, and perhaps it’ll draw attention given that you’ve known each other for literally two days.” He started with a focused expression on his face as he paced the room, it was as if he was thinking loudly “But since she’s an illegal immigrant who has miraculously escaped from a country with an extremely oppressive regime, she can probably request political exile here in Japan and start a new life under a new name. But none of that is certain, It depends on the people who will be responsible for her situation, which means that it’s probably a lot easier to find some fool and convince him to marry her.” He was almost out of breath by then, given that he was shooting all that in one go “And that,” he said, taking a deep breath and pointing at Bokuto “is where you enter.”

Bokuto was staring blankly at him and blinked when he pointed at him.

“I could see your lips moving but I barely understood what you just said.” Bokuto confessed, awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck with a dreamy smile “Do you wear lipgloss?”

“No.” Akaashi deadpanned.

“Anyway, all I got from all that was that it wasn’t wrong, so that means you approve!” Bokuto said merrily, clapping his hands, his hair flickering as if it had electricity. Which it probably did. There were actually some sparks. Akaashi wondered what he’d been doing, but he’d probably never know.

“I never said I approved.” Akaashi said impassively.

“So you don’t?” Bokuto’s shoulders slouched again.

“I also didn’t say that.”

“So you do!?”

Akaashi sighed.

“Why are you being so insistent? What does my opinion matter to you? I’m just your friend, whether I approve or not it doesn’t matter. You’re your own boss.” He shrugged.

Bokuto looked at him and furrowed his brows pensively.

“I guess you’re right.” He shrugged back “I’ve already told my family, they weren’t so happy about it and told me to ask for your opinion, and that’s what I did. I’ll do it, then!” He exclaimed, clenching his fists in an intense fighting spirit moment “We’re getting married!” He said before turning to the girl who smiled. For a faint moment Akaashi felt like he was telling him that they were getting married. Which he technically was but not referring to the same two people Akaashi had thought for that faint moment. Himself and Bokuto. And it made him very sad. He felt like remixing Chopin’s nocturne no.20 in C-sharp minor again to sooth his sadness.

“Congrats.” He managed.

“You’ll be my best man, right!?” Bokuto asked suddenly rushing to him and grabbing both his hands with shining golden eyes.

“Sure.” Akaashi said indifferently.

“I knew I could count on you, bro!” He said very loudly in Akaashi’s ear as he gave him an enthusiastic bone crushing bear hug that lifted him off the floor.

«You used to call me babe when you were stoned. » Akaashi thought, feeling his eyes well up with tears and seeing spots of light.

That was probably the last hug he’d ever give him, he thought, feeling hope drawing away like the air abandoning his lungs as he slowly became unable to breathe. Probably the last hug of his life, too. Those were the lights of death, he was sure of it.

“Shit, I’m sorry!” Bokuto asked in panic, holding an almost fainting Akaashi by the shoulders as he gasped for air “Are you alright!?”

“’s alright” he managed “you be happy.”

“Will you mix in my wedding!?” Bokuto asked expectantly.

“Sure, anything.” Akaashi assured as he caught his breath and massaged his aching chest.

He’d lost. He’d lost completely. He would never, ever remember their love. He would marry that North Korean girl and live a happy straight and socially accepted life.

And tears started pouring from his eyes as he smiled weakly and blinked the lights away. That was close.

 

 

It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light.

**Aristotle**

 

* * *

 

 

He cried in the purest of sorrows for two days.

For two days, he religiously sat on a rock by the sea as the wind caressed his hair, looking longingly into the distance. He listened to a techno remix of his own of the song ‘I can’t make you love me’ by Bonnie Raitt on repeat. It was very sad.

That was the same song that conveniently had started playing that day in the coffee shop.

He remembered that dreadful day for the umpteenth time; from the talk with Kuroo and Tsukishima to Tanaka and Nishinoya’s cameo with their outrageous leather jackets.

That’s when he suddenly heard it again.

“LIVE A MANLIER LIFE, AKAASHI!” Nishinoya yelled clearly in his spirit.

The sea breeze blew stronger with renewed hope and he stood up.

He wouldn’t let Bokuto go without fighting for him, even if that meant some North Korean girl being sent back to her homeland. Altruism is good but so is self-love.

Kuroo was right. He was acting like a spineless crybaby.

There was still the jacket.

 

 

People often say that motivation doesn’t last.

Well, neither does bathing – that’s why we recommend it daily.

**Zig Ziglar**

 

* * *

 

 

_“Dear Gaston Van BuffStud,_

_Tsukishima’s prophecy came true._

_Bokuto-san is getting married._

_I know it’s literally just been two weeks since the accident and it probably sounds like he was cheating on me before, but that’s not the case._

_She’s from North Korea and he met her two days ago. He says she’s his soulmate and they want to get married as soon as possible. He’s already told everybody including his family and all our friends._

_She’s a nice girl, honestly. She learned how to speak and write Japanese with some fluency before swimming all the way to Japan and getting a lift from the West shore to Tokyo from some nice guy in a truck. She’s very strong and an example to everyone._

_I won’t lie, it made me very sad and I almost gave up again. Also, I nearly died because of the stupidly tight hug he gave me when I agreed to be his best man. Does that idiot know how strong he actually is? I think he may have fractured me a rib. I heard something cracking, but it could also be a Mars Bar because he usually keeps one in his underwear for an emergency._

_Anyway, this happened two days ago and I’ve been roaming around aimlessly crying by the sea like some overly romantic douche. Maybe reading ‘The Sorrows of the Young Werther’ for that European Literature class wasn’t a good idea. I got too immersed in it._

_But now I’m free! I heard Nishinoya’s voice in my head telling me to live a manlier life and I finally snapped out of it._

_I’m sorry for Jong Ki, I mean, Junko (that’s her new name), but I’m sure she’ll be fine if I happen to succeed. My instincts tell me that that isn’t true love, but maybe I’m just bitter._

_You have been a great friend for these past two weeks and a half, Gaston. I’ll never forget you._

_Yours truly,_

_The Big A »_

And after finishing that letter, Akaashi closed his notebook and stashed it in his drawer.

 

 It was Saturday, so he’d been in his underwear since morning. It felt criminal to put on pants on a Saturday unless one’s leaving the house.

Bokuto had gone out with Junko and Akaashi had decided to take that as a chance to put his plan into practice.

He then grabbed the city map he’d been marking before writing the letter, he left the house. There’s actually no need to say that he got dressed, because if he hadn’t gotten dressed, he would have been arrested for indecent exposure and he wanted none of that.

 

 

Follow your dreams, except for the one where you're naked in church.

**Rev. David Ault**

* * *

 

 

The day was fresh and clear. The Sun shone bright in the sky and the warm summer end breeze could be felt, carrying the smell of smoke and dust around the noisy and crowded city.

His plan was very simple. Or very hard, it would depend on how easily he could find the dry cleaner Bokuto had taken the jacket to. The reason was that he believed that seeing it could eventually trigger Bokuto’s memory of the gayness they had in common.

Remember the sticky note on the fridge about a yellow jacket Bokuto used to clean the floor after flooding the kitchen? That’s the one.

The jacket incident had happened around four months prior to the accident and, as far as Akaashi remembered, he’d never gotten it back. He kept postponing it until they eventually forgot about it.

Until that crucial moment.

Akaashi would have to go on a quest.

On a quest to find the lost jacket.

The jacket Bokuto had never retrieved from the dry cleaner.

He’d gotten a list of all the dry cleaners in Tokyo. The list was quite long, and one would think that it would be best to start with the one closer to their apartment, but Akaashi knew better. One time Bokuto had walked over forty kilometers to buy milk when there was literally a convenience store on the other side of the street where they lived because he’d felt like ‘going for a stroll’. If he remembered well, that day four months ago had been quite sunny.

He tried the one closest to their house anyway just in case and, as he’d expected, there were no yellow jackets there.

Well, that complicated things a bit, but Akaashi had already been expecting it anyway so it wasn’t a big deal.

Or so he thought.

The second dry cleaner was two blocks away. It was in a nice blue building and the space was very neat.

The attendant was also very nice and he had a weird bruise on his forehead. Akaashi wondered what had happened.

“Yellow jacket four months ago?” He asked “That’s a long time, isn’t it?”

“Yes.” Akaashi replied blankly “Do you have anything like that?”

“I’ll check. Please give me a moment!” He said before disappearing through a curtain behind him.

Akaashi stood in the reception, leaning against the desk and tapping his fingers on it.

Suddenly he heard the ‘Ding!’ of the door being opened and someone in a tank top walked in holding a huge black trash bag. He was surprised to find that he knew the person.

“Iwaizumi-san.” He greeted impassively.

“Oh, Akaashi!” Iwazumi returned quite surprised “What are you doing here?”

“I’m trying to find a jacket.”

“Trying? So you’re not sure if it’s here?” Iwaizumi inquired as he placed the bag near the reception desk and looked at him.

“No.” He replied.

“I see.” Iwaizumi didn’t insist given that it didn’t concern him and they weren’t that close. In fact they were just acquaintances. Iwaizumi leaned against the desk as well. “You’re doing Literature, right?”He asked casually.

“Yes.” Akashi replied unmoved. He wasn’t annoyed or anything, really. Being aloof and keeping a poker face was his nature.

“Hm…” Iwaizumi mused. It was kind of awkward to stand in a random dry cleaner with an acquaintance with whom the only thing in common was playing volleyball together in high school a couple of times.

Suddenly the song [_‘I’m sexy and I know it’_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xBQ_iydufE) started playing apparently out of the blue. It was actually coming from Iwazumi’s pocket because apparently it was his ringtone. He fumbled to pick his phone up. Not because he was embarrassed, but because he was angry. Somebody must have had changed his ringtone as a joke.

“I’m going to kill you.” He threatened as a greeting “Shut up!” He scowled “Stop laughing, asshole! What do you want?” He grunted “There’s nobody at the desk, what do you want me to do!? Point a gun at their head!?” He started raising his voice as he waved his free arm and paced the room “What the fuck!? Of course I don’t have any guns on me!” Pause. “Shut the fuck up, what a stupid pun.” He scoffed, glancing at his uncovered biceps, “Alright, stay put, don’t do anything stupid. I’ll be right there.” He grumbled and hung up.

He then remembered that he wasn’t alone in there and felt bad for his foul mouth.

“Shi-uh, I’m sorry about the language.” He apologized with an awkward smile.

“It’s alright.” Akaashi assured.

The attendant finally returned holding at least five huge jackets stuffed in transparent plastic bags in his arms. He placed on the desk with a plastic thud. One of them was yellowish but none of them was actually yellow.

“I’m sorry for the wait. Is it any of these?” The attendant asked expectantly.

Akaashi politely looked through them.

“I don’t think so. The one I was looking for is yellow.” He said.

The poor man looked extremely sad. He was very eager to help and be useful.

“How long have these jackets been here?” Akaashi asked compassionately.

“I have no idea…” The man confessed “They don’t have any tags, so either several months or even a couple of years...”

“Maybe I could take them for charity, since they don’t have tags.” Akaashi offered. “Winter is just a couple of months away, people will need warm jackets.”

The man’s face lit up.

“That would be useful, wouldn’t it!?” He asked merrily, but then his smile died a little “But wouldn’t it be a lot of trouble for you?”

“Don’t worry about that.” He said. He was going to pass a charity house on his way to the next dry cleaner, so it was totally fine. And maybe some good deeds would make karma be nice to him considering the situation. Who knew?

“That’s so kind! Please take them, then!” He asked, bowing so profusely he hit his forehead on the desk. But it didn’t faze him and he immediately straightened up with a wide smile. Akaashi understood where he’d gotten the bruise on his forehead.

Neither of the customers commented.

Akaashi grabbed the jackets and flung them over his shoulder.

He then said his goodbyes and walked towards the door, still managing to catch a glimpse of the huge stuffed alien Iwaizumi pulled out of the plastic bag.

When he walked outside he saw Oikawa sitting on a chair in a coffee shop’s terrace with his legs crossed and design sunglasses on his face sipping O.J. from a fancy glass with a straw and a cocktail umbrella. He looked like he owned the place.

Akaashi had the feeling that the stuffed alien in Iwaizumi’s trash bag belonged to him.

 

 

* * *

 

 

The boy kept walking.

 It would probably sound dumb that he was walking instead of taking the bus or a cab, but there was a good explanation for that. Remember how some time ago he had to bail Bokuto out? Well, after that he’d gotten considerably short on money and would have to make it to the end of the month with very little. He still had to eat and pay for Xerox copies for college.

Anyway, he walked to the next dry cleaner with that armful of jackets. He was going to drop the jackets at the charity house on his way there.

His shirt was getting damp from sweat and he felt it streaming off his brow and down his face. The jackets were quite heavy and the weather was hot. It wasn’t very pleasant, as one can easily figure, but he would live.

As he was walking down the pavement he started noticing that the cars weren’t moving and, looking ahead, he noticed a strange brownish cloud of what seemed to be dust from afar. As he got closer he realized that it wasn’t dust.

It was chocolate powder.

Akaashi stopped, looking blankly at the scene trying to understand what was going on.

There was an overturned truck blocking on the road and the traffic had stopped. People were being hosed on the pavements by the firemen and firewomen, because well, Akaashi wasn’t the only person that sweated when the weather was hot, and the people passing by at the moment of the accident had been hit with the chocolate that came from the truck and it had gotten stuck everywhere. The street and walls around were covered in a sticky layer of chocolate and people looked delicious in a somewhat cannibal way.

Akaashi wondered if he was hallucinating from the heat but then he heard some guy complaining that he was already clean, that was his natural colour.

“Can you tell me what happened?” He asked the tanned guy when he walked away from the fireman cursing loudly.

“One of the tyres of that truck blew up or something.”  He grunted before noticing the jackets Akaashi was carrying and his eyes widened in surprise “That’s my jacket!” He exclaimed “Shit, I completely forgot to get it back from the dry cleaner, like a year ago or something.”

“Which one?” Akaashi asked.

“The big black one. There’s a hole on the right sleeve, see?” The guy pointed at it “Where are you taking them?”

“I was going to take them for charity, but if it’s yours, you can have it.” Akaashi said, he was going to place the jackets on the floor but he changed his mind “Please pull it out.”

“Thanks, man.” The guy said, pulling it out as Akaashi held the others in place. He then made a face, as if he had conflicted thoughts. “Uh, wait.” He grabbed his wallet and got some bills out of it and handed them to Akaashi “Since I didn’t pay to get it back, take this for charity instead, alright?”

Akaashi accepted it and put it in his pocket.

“That’s very nice of you.”

“Yeah, whatever.” The guy scoffed “Gotta go now, see you around.” He said and he gestured vaguely and walked away.

Akaashi adjusted the remaining jackets on his shoulder. It felt a little lighter now and he was thankful for that.

He then saw someone sneaking in the back of the truck to steal the chocolate bags that hadn’t exploded with the accident. There were actually two of them, one of them was stealing and the other was trying to stop him and messing his own hair in exasperation. Akaashi noticed without much surprise that he knew them.

It was Yaku and Lev. Lev was trying to steal the chocolate and the Yaku was panicking.

“You’re going to get caught! Stop doing that! You’re off age, you’ll go to jail!”

Lev laughed loudly as he flung two bags over his shoulder and hopped off the overturned truck. Akaashi hadn’t seen him in a while and noticed that he’d grown quite an impressive bit since high school. Yaku on the other hand…

“Chill! It’s alright! They don’t need it anyway!” Lev exclaimed cheerfully “Let’s g—“ on that moment the truck driver appeared.

“Hey! You’re stealing my chocolate! Police! POLICE!” He shrieked.

“Shit, shit, shit!” Lev cackled loudly “I was wrong! They want it after all!”

“I’m going to fucking ki—!“ Yaku yelled but he stopped abruptly as Lev picked him up with his free arm and flung him over his shoulder as well “Put me down, idiot!” He flounced “This is humiliating!” He cried “I can run too, you little shit!”

“Not fast enough, sorry, senpai!” Lev said before he started running as fast as he could up the street “I am the wind!” He shouted cheerfully.

He was as swift as the wind and as fast and sneaky as a cat. The police never caught them.

What a weird situation, Akaashi thought while he walked past that mess. It was going to be a long quest, he felt, and he was certainly going to learn some valuable life lessons when it was over.

This probably wasn’t one of them, though.

 

* * *

 

He eventually got to the charity house where he wanted to drop the jackets at and he was received with a lot of enthusiasm. He also gave them the money that the tanned guy had given him. In return, he got a lollipop and a sticker with a smiley. It felt weirdly as if he’d just gone to the dentist, but that meant he’d been a good kid and that was good enough.

Considerably lighter, he walked a lot easier after that. Though his shoulder still felt stiff from the weight, he ignored it and kept pushing himself further.

He walked into alleys and backstreets, up and down roads, and he got lost a couple of times. He stopped to eat and drink something some times, too. By the end of the day he hadn’t even visited half the dry cleaners in his list and still no signs of the jacket.

It was 10pm, and it was already dark.

The street lights were on already and the fresh night breeze could be felt. He sat on the pavement and sighed. He couldn’t feel his legs anymore and he was starting to feel hopeless.

Suddenly his phone rang.

“Akaashi!” Bokuto’s voice boomed from the other end of the line and he had to remove the phone from his ear “Where are you? I was worried about you, man! You didn’t even leave a note and nobody’s heard from you all day!”

“I didn’t tell anybody where I was going.” Akaashi said.

“That’s dangerous! Didn’t you watch 127 Hours!?” Bokuto exclaimed.

“I’m fine.”

“Well ok, that’s not the only reason I called.” Bokuto proceeded “I’m getting married!”

Akaashi rolled his eyes.

“I already know that.”

“No, no, you didn’t get it! I am getting married _tomorrow_!”

Akaashi paled.

“What?”

“Yes!” Bokuto said cheerfully “At Sunset at the beach!”

“Sounds romantic.” Akaashi said feeling his heart clench.

“I know! That’s where I met her as she was getting out of the ocean!”

Akaashi didn’t say anything. That was too bizarre to comment.

“You’ll be there, right? You’re my best man!” Bokuto asked cheerfully.

“Sure. I’ll…” his voice cracked and he shook his head “…um, I’ll be there. Don’t worry.”

“Great!” Bokuto exclaimed “I love you, man!”

‘No homo.’ Akaashi mentally added, his heart clenching. He breathed heavily.

“I won’t sleep at home tonight.” Akaashi informed coolly.

“What!?” Bokuto asked “Where are you staying?”

“Out.” Akaashi told him blankly.

Bokuto remained silent for a moment.

“I don’t like it.” He grumbled.

“What is it you don’t like?” Akaashi asked raising an eyebrow.

“When you hide stuff from me…” Bokuto explained, his voice faltering a bit “I mean, I know I’m not the sharpest guy, but I can tell when something’s not alright. And you’ve been hiding something from me.” He accused “And so has Kuroo.” He added. Akaashi could almost see his furrowed brows and his pout.

He sighed.

“Actually,” Akaashi started “I think you’re the one who’s been hiding things from yourself.”

There was silence.

“Uh?” Bokuto managed afterwards, very confused.

“I’m going to hang up now.” Akaashi informed. He still heard a ‘Wai-‘ before he hung up.

Well, that would keep his brain occupied for a while so he was free from question for the time being.

 

He’d said that very confidently, but he had no money for a hotel or anything like that and he didn’t know at whose place he could crash for the night given that he was in a remote part of the city.

He was screwed.

Or was he..?

“Whatcha doin’ out here?” A playful voice asked.

Akaashi looked up. This guy looked like a thug. He had an undercut and his hair was bleached, but somehow he didn’t seem dangerous.

“Don’t give me that look I’m not gonna mug you. I know who you are!” The newcomer informed with a wink and a smile. Akaashi found that he remembered him too.

“You were from Johzenji.” He said, accepting the hand the guy reached in his direction and standing up “Terushima-san?” He tried.

“Yep!” Terushima confirmed “And you’re Akaashi, right?”

“Yes.”

“So, what are you doing out here on your own? This place isn’t very safe, you know?” Terushima told him.

“I’m looking for something.” Akaashi said.

“Aren’t we all?” Terushima returned with a laugh “I’ll tell you what” he said, flinging an arm around his shoulders “I work in that ramen house over there and you can tell me everything that’s bothering you over a bowl of ramen. You can let it all out!”

“But isn’t it past closing time?” Akaashi inquired raising an eyebrow.

“I’m closing it tonight, so it’s fine.” He assured winking.

For some reason Akaashi felt that he could trust this guy so he accepted.

It was the right decision.

The restaurant was a simple traditional ramen house with cozy lighting.

Terushima sat there and listened in silence while Akaashi explained his situation. He told him the whole story with all the details and actually felt a lot lighter afterwards.

“You smoke too much pot, man! I would have never imagined!” He laughed “But I see what’s up and, no offense, but I kind of agree with your friends. You’ve been acting like a pissbaby, dude.”

Akaashi sighed. Well, he had to admit that he’d acted like a pissbaby for a while.

“But the jacket thing is impressive! Personally I’d just go ahead and smooch the person to see what happens, but that’s me.” Terushima said, shrugging “You do what you feel is best! Fight for it!”

“I know.” Akaashi said as he finished his meal “Thanks for the meal.” He said.

“So you need a place to spend the night, right?” Terushima asked, “There’s a place in the back where I usually take some naps, you could crash there if you wanted. I’d be back at nine in the morning.” He told him.

Akaashi hesitated. That sounded too nice.

“I want nothing in return, don’t worry.” Terushima assured with a smile “I’m just being helpful because we both used to be volleyball players and seeing you reminded me of those times.” He said with a nostalgic look on his face.

“You’re not in touch with the people from your old team?” Akaashi asked, noticing his look.

“Well, most of them are working like me and some of them are in college, so we don’t get to hang out together much. Such is life.” Terushima explained with a shrug “That’s why you should always fight for what you want and set goals for your life. If you just let it roll at will, at one point, it will just roll away from you and you’ll never be able control it again and end up getting stuck with mediocrity.”

Akaashi felt chills in his skin from how deep and touching that was. His eyes felt weirdly humid.

They remained silent for a while until Terushima broke the silence by slapping the table with both hands and smiling as he stood up.

“Well, this got weird and I don’t like that!” He said “Do you want it or not?”

“I would appreciate it, Terushima-san. Thank you.”

“It’s fine. Just tell your friends about the restaurant!” He winked giving a thumbs up.

On that night, lying on that old moldy mattress in the back of that ramen house, Akaashi understood.

He felt the fire in his chest grow stronger.

See, by looking for the jacket he was fighting for what he wanted, which was Bokuto. If he hadn’t gone looking for it, he’d be crossing his arms and letting it roll away from his control like Terushima had wisely warned.

He was doing the right thing. He was fighting for what he wanted even though it was an apparently minor thing.

Well, it depends on the person, actually. For some people romantic love may seem like a minor thing, but for others it may seem like a huge deal.

And some people may also hate intrusive narrators and that is a shame.

 

* * *

 

Akaashi woke up in the morning with a spider in his hair, which he removed and threw away without much commotion. He wasn’t afraid of spiders.

It was still 7:30 so he decided to make himself useful and cleaned the restaurant.

When Terushima arrived he was very impressed.

“Wow, this place has never been so clean! You didn’t have to, man.” He said with a smile “But thanks!”

“No, I’m the one who should thank you.” Akaashi stated, bowing profusely “For everything.” He added straightening up.

Terushima rubbed the back of his neck with a smile.

“You make me feel like the nice guy I’m not.” He said, laughing.

He ended up sending him off with an orange backpack filled with ramen in plastic boxes. It was quite heavy, but he gladly accepted it. At least he wouldn’t spend more money on food.

That day wasn’t cooler than the previous one. It was just as hot and sunny.

And so his quest for the lost yellow jacket carried on.

Remember that Bokuto was getting married at sunset? That means that Akaashi had less than 12 hours to find the jacket and make it to the wedding on time.

He had to walk faster.

The first two dry cleaners had really grumpy attendants. The third one didn’t open until 11am so he waited. Or he lost his time because the jacket wasn’t there either.

He visited three more places and came out empty handed every time.

There were only two more names in his list and he just hoped that it would be in one of them. He feared that in the end he wouldn’t find it and all that trouble had been for nothing.

At around 1pm, and after eating plenty of ramen and sharing it with a couple of kids in a small park under a big Willow tree that casted an amazingly fresh shadow on such a hot day, Akaashi visited the first of the last two dry cleaners in his list. And nope, it wasn’t there either.

It was already 3 pm.

All his hopes resided in the last one.

He entered it gulping and breathing heavily.

It had to be there, it had to.

The attendant took a long time in the back looking for it and when she came back Akaashi looked expectantly to her hands only to realize that they were empty.

“I’m sorry” she said sadly “I found no yellow jackets.”

“It’s alright.” Akaashi managed weakly “thank you for trying.”

As he left the small shop he looked at the deep blue sky and felt his eyes well up with tears, clouding his vision.

He’d honestly thought that he would find it in one of the stores in his list.

But life isn’t always as we want it to be, right?

 

And to top the whole thing, he was standing in a remote part of the city with a backpack full of plastic boxes filled with ramen and didn’t know what to do. There were literally no more dry cleaners in the city and he didn’t have time to go check in other cities. It didn’t matter anyway.

It was over.

He’d lost for the second time.

 

To the dumb question, 'Why me?' the cosmos barely bothers to return the reply, 'Why not?'

**Christopher Hitchens**

* * *

 

He roamed around aimlessly trying to decide whether he should go to Bokuto’s wedding or not. He felt bitter about it, he’d planned on showing with the jacket and, in his imagination, Bokuto would immediately remember everything concerning it.

But none of that made sense anymore, and it felt stupid and idealized.

He was utterly out of hope and he was even planning on standing him up on his wedding day when he’d so nicely asked him to be his best man. Well, maybe not that nicely, but still. He’d asked him out of all people because he trusted him and he should appreciate that.

He was the worst and once again he felt himself sinking in self-pity and sorrow. Unable to stop the tears that suddenly started pouring from his eyes he sat down near what seemed to be a really old Ready-to-Wear shop and sunk his face in his thighs. The shop appeared to have been closed for several years, judging by the dust on the front window and the things inside, but it seemed to be intact. It was simply closed.

It just added to the depressing feelings that haunted Akaashi on that sunny September day.

 

Weather forecast for tonight: dark.

**George Carlin**

 

Two old ladies passed in front of the shop and one of them commented on how she’d lived in that city her entire life and had never seen that place open.

“Oh, look at what’s happening to the world.” The other one commented upon seeing Akaashi “Young people have no jobs so they have to beg for money.”

The first one shook her head sadly.

Great, not only was he sad and miserable, but he also looked like a bum.

How could that day get any worse?

Akaashi palled when he realized what he said.

Shit.

 **Akaashi Keiji,** _Upon tempting fate_

 

“Welcome.” Someone asked with a smile in their smooth voice. Akaashi shivered.

This was it.

He couldn’t even imagine what kind of shit was coming his way now.

Akaashi looked in front of him and saw a pair of polished black classic shoes and blankly looked up.

There was a tall smiling man standing before him and blocking the sun. He was wearing outdated clothes, as if he’d come directly from a movie set in the Roaring Twenties, and he smelled like fancy aftershave. He wore a matching grey vest and pants, and a light purple shirt completed with a dark purple bowtie. His hair was licked back on the right side and it shone with grease but the left side was down and completely covered the left side of his face with slick black bangs.

“Do you need anything from my shop?” The man asked, courteously gesturing towards the shop behind Akaashi.

Akaashi was confused. The shop was closed and abandoned the last time he’d checked.

He looked back and it was still very much closed, dusty and abandoned.

“This shop is closed.” He stated the obvious “And it has been closed for years according to some old ladies that passed by a while ago.” He added.

The man smiled.

“Would you care to follow me?” He asked, as he elegantly reached his hand to help Akaashi up.

Akaashi hesitated.

He looked the man in his visible eye, which was grayish green and shone with deepness and wisdom (or maybe it was just the sun, really), trying to find some hint of malice in it, but he found nothing besides his charming smile. His face was unreadable and serene.

 _Well_ , Akaashi thought _, I’ll just hope for a fast and painless death if he happens to actually be a serial killer._

And he accepted the hand. The man was a lot stronger than he looked and swiftly pulled him to his feet.

Standing he realized that the man wasn’t as tall as he’d thought at first. He should be around Bokuto’s height.

“Please follow me.” He told him with a light bow before walking towards the door of the closed store.

Akaashi looked around trying to see if somebody was seeing what was happening there, but nobody seemed to be paying attention.

The click of the door being opened brought him back to his own situation and he followed the man inside.

This time he wasn’t really expecting anything, really. Whether the store looked clean and new inside or as dusty and old as from the outside, or even if the front was just a cover to a torture house with soundproof walls, it wouldn’t matter. Nothing would surprise him.

 

Blessed are those who expect nothing, for they shall not be disappointed.

**Pope Alexander**

 

And he sure wasn’t disappointed, but he was surprised for sure.

“A dry cleaner?” He asked, unable to conceal his astonishment as he looked at clean nice-scented place before looking at the man.

The man smiled.

“It can be many things.” He said mysteriously.

Akaashi stared blankly around the space filled with clothes neatly piled up in plastic bags as he racked his brain trying to understand what was happening.

He was sure he wasn’t high and he was also sure he wasn’t sleeping (he’d pinched his arm to check, like anyone would do in that kind of situation). So what was going on?

The only thing he wasn’t sure about was the sudden kick of hope he felt in his heart. He feared being disappointed.

Could it be?

“You’ll never know unless you ask.” The shop’s owner stated with a knowing smile.

“I’m looking for a yellow jacket that was taken to dry cleaning around four months ago by a loud guy with grayish hair styled like an owl’s.”

“Owls don’t have hair.” The man observed.

“Like the feathers in their head, then.” Akaashi corrected.

“That’s better.” The man said with a smile “Please follow me.”

And Akaashi followed him without questioning. They walked behind the reception desk and into a dark cold and windy room that was hidden behind a dark red curtain.

It was pitch dark inside but the man quickly found the light switch, or rather the light lever, and turned the white lights on.

It was no wonder it was so cold and windy; it was immense. It was as big as a theater room but it didn’t have any chairs or a stage up front.

The ceiling was very tall and purple, and so were the walls and the floor, and there was no furniture except for a seemingly endless purple clothes rack with countless yellow jackets hanging from it, that was set to form a labyrinth all over the room.

“I’m going to have to find it in the middle of all these jackets, aren’t I?” Akaashi asked feeling hope slide away from him again.

The man looked at him very seriously.

“What makes you think that?” He asked.

“The way they’re placed.” Akaashi observed.

“You like to judge things for their appearance, don’t you?” The man asked.

Akaashi felt a little embarrassed. It was the second time it’d happened.

“So I’m not going to have to find for myself?” He asked.

“That’s not what I meant. You are going to have to find it for yourself.” The man said without a hint of mockery in his face “But judging something by the way it looks it’s a bad thing. I’m trying to teach you something valuable.”

Akaashi was getting a headache because of all that nonsense.

“Wouldn’t it be better to teach me a lesson by proving me wrong?” He asked in exasperation.

“It depends on what one is trying to teach.” The man replied “Why are you so worried about the labyrinth?”

“Because there are thousands of jackets in here!” Akaashi exclaimed and his voice echoed through the room. He was getting annoyed.

“There are exactly ten thousand jackets in here.” The man informed “So you can say there are ten thousand jackets.”

“Ten thousand jackets, then.” Akaashi huffed.

“Well” the man proceeded “you’re going to have to find it, that’s how it works.” He explained “And you will have exactly…” he grabbed a pocket watch with flower motives from his chest pocket and looked at it “five minutes to do it starting right…” he paused dramatically as he let the hand reach the twelve “…now.” He said.

Akaashi didn’t move for a solid 10 seconds just trying to internalize that he only had five minutes to look for a yellow jacket in the middle of ten thousand yellow jackets.

He would never make it, this guy was a weird evil wizard and he wanted to make fun of him, he was sure of that.

But he tried anyway.

And, much to his surprise, he found it in two minutes as it was almost within arm reach from where he was first standing.

“It’s this one.” He stated in astonishment taking it from the rack “There’s a tag with his name.”

The man beamed.

“Congratulations, Akaashi-kun.” He said snapping his fingers. With that gesture a purple light flashed and all the other jackets and the racks disappeared. They were left in the middle of a huge purple empty room with The Jacket “I knew five minutes would be more than enough.”

“Is this really the jacket I’m looking for?” Akaashi asked suspiciously.

“Yes, your friend came to this same store some time ago with a damp yellow jacket.” The man told him as he led him out of the cold room into the front of the shop “He sat outside just like you did looking very depressed.”

Akaashi raised an eyebrow.

“Why?”

“People in other dry cleaners didn’t want to accept a _soaked_ piece of clothing to _dry_ clean, and they thought he was on drugs.” The man explained with a perceptive smile.

Akaashi deadpanned.

“He’s an idiot.”

“He also told me that someone by the name of Keiji would never forgive him and he could never face him again.”

“That’s me.” Akaashi muttered. He suddenly felt all giddy inside from how stupidly adorable that was. It’d been a while since he’d last felt that “And that’s so stupid. I wouldn’t have batted an eye if he’d thrown the jacket in the dumpster.” He stated.

“Are you sure of that?” The man inquired with a shrewd smile.

Akaashi reconsidered and remembered why he was actually there and how important that jacket had become.

“You’re a person who thinks logically and that’s a good thing” the man noted with a smile “but logic doesn’t work every time.”

“I’m becoming aware of that.” Akaashi nodded, pursing his lips.

He suddenly remembered that he was short on time and his heart skipped a beat.

“What time is it?” He asked the man.

“Exactly half past six.” The man informed.

The beach where the wedding would be held was at least one hour away from where he was by car. He would never make it on foot before sunset and he was sure nobody would give him any rides.

“You’re thinking logically again.” The man sighed “Will you ever stop doing that?”

“When I’m high I don’t do that.” Akaashi replied without thinking before realizing that he was reading his thoughts “And _what_?”

“You saw me making ten thousand jackets disappear by snapping my fingers and you’re still surprised with my supernatural powers.” The man huffed in exasperation “He was much more willing to accept the magic.”

“We’re pretty much opposites.” Akaashi informed. He knew he was talking about Bokuto.

“So I’ve noticed.” The man shook his head “Anyway, I’ll help you get there.”

“You will?” Akaashi asked raising both his eyebrows.

“Yes.” The man confirmed.

“Why?” Akaashi asked suspiciously.

“Why not?”

And that made perfect sense to Akaashi.

 

 

Akaashi then followed the man outside the shop under his own command and they stood in the middle of the sidewalk.

“Do you have a car?”

“Better.” The man grinned before snapping his fingers. A purple light flashed again and this time Akaashi noticed that it was coming from behind the hair covering his left eye.

Suddenly he was holding something green rolled tightly into a tube.

“Is that a magic carpet?” Akaashi inquired impassively.

The magician was delighted.

“That’s the kind of thinking I like.” He told him “Yes, that is exactly what this is.” He said unrolling it. It was a carpet richly decorated with clouds and tigers. As it was unrolled it floated serenely at arm reach. “All you have to do is hold the top corners as if they’re horse reins to change direction. It has only one speed.”

“Okay.” Akaashi nodded “Does it fly as fast as car?”

“Cars don’t fly.” The magician raised an eyebrow.

“I mean, does it fly as fast as a car can go?” Akaashi explained.

“Oh. No, it goes faster than a car. Don’t worry.” The man assured gesturing dismissively with his hand.

Akaashi sat on the carpet and it got restless under him as if expecting orders.

“You may want to wear the jacket.” His saviour advised “It’s hot down here, but it can be really cold up there.” He pointed at the sky.

Akaashi dressed the jacket which was a little too big for him, since it was Bokuto’s and he immediately felt too hot in it, but it didn’t matter.

“Have a nice trip.” The mysterious magician wished with a kind smile.

“Wait.” Akaashi said “I don’t even know your name.”

The man in the Roaring Twenties-esque outfit smiled.

“I’m Him.”

“That’s a weird name.” Akaashi commented “Is that a Ulysses-like thing or is short for something?”

He never got an answer, because on that moment the carpet elevated itself in the air and Akaashi only had time to hold on to the corners. He looked down and he saw Him waving in his direction. When he looked again he was expecting to see Him there because that would be the opposite from what to expect in that particular situation according to Him’s teachings. But he was actually gone.

Akaashi smiled from ear to ear; one of his first real smiles in weeks.

Obvious developments are boring, and he finally understood that.

 

The more difficulties one has to encounter, within and without, the more significant and the higher the inspiration their life will be.

**Horace Bushnell**

 

* * *

 

 

As he flew on the magic carpet he felt eternally thankful that it was a jacket and not a pair of pants what Bokuto had used to clean the floor that one time, because otherwise he would have frozen to death. Him was not exaggerating. It was really cold up there; he could barely feel his hands and face from the freezing wind.

That wasn’t all that went through his head during his trip to his final destination.

He thought about all the things he’d lived on that weekend. He’d seen lots of things and people and he was thankful for every single one of them. He was sure that the trip wouldn’t have been the same without them. Form the chocolate powder incident to Him.

It had been a life changing experience and suddenly he felt glad he was stubborn and stupid and insisted on feeling sad and not telling Bokuto what was up otherwise he wouldn’t have gone on that quest. Those three weeks had changed his life and he’d grown a lot as a person.

If everything worked out and Bokuto did remember his gayness after seeing the jacket, he was going to tell him everything about his trip and it would be a lot of fun.

He knew that using the jacket as a memory trigger was a long shot, but he had hope, and that was all that mattered.

 

Believe you can and you're halfway there.

**Theodore Roosevelt**

* * *

 

In short, he got there on time without much trouble. Except for a pigeon that almost flew onto his face, he got there as fast as the wind. He got there at 7pm; the sun was yet to set at that time of the year.

So he got to the beach where the wedding was going to be held.

The ceremony wasn’t particularly fancy as expected given that they’d literally had like two days to prepare everything; it looked more like a bonfire party than a wedding. Everybody was in swimming clothes and sitting on the sand.

Akaashi noticed that the ceremony was being led by Tanaka in a monk gown.

The cultural inconsistence was jarring, but considering the situation it was somehow acceptable.

All their friends and acquaintances from high school were there and so was Bokuto’s family. There was obviously nobody from the bride’s side of the family.

He tried to think of a way of landing without scaring everybody by showing up on a flying carpet.

But then he realized that Him hadn’t taught him how to land that thing and he mentally facepalmed (because he couldn’t take his hands from the carpet or he’d probably fall).

The carpet didn’t seem to care about anybody’s heart condition though, and it motioned slowly, yet steadily, right into the middle of the lane between people (that was there so that the groom and bride could walk to the altar, although it wasn’t really an altar, it was literally just Tanaka standing on a pile of seaweed).

Nobody seemed to notice the carpet coming from the sky and landing in the middle of them.

The bride and groom were still in the altar.

“Oh you’re here, Akaashi!” Hinata said cheerfully when he saw him. He was sitting in the back with Kageyama and the rest of their former team “They said you weren’t coming, but I always knew you would!”

“The ceremony is over.” Nishinoya informed gravely shooting him a very serious look. Asahi was inconsolable and couldn’t stop crying.

Akaashi froze in place. He couldn’t believe it.

It couldn’t be, not after all he’d been through.  He’d trusted Him and in the end he’d gotten there too late.

“But they said it was at sunset.” He muttered blankly “The sun hasn’t set yet.” He observed weakly pointing to the sun still quite a bit over the horizon far away across the sea.

“The girl insisted they should do it as fast as possible.” Daichi informed smiling knowingly.

“So that they could go sign the papers before the registry closes.” Sugawara completed smiling as well.

Akaashi sighed in relief.

“Why are you wearing that jacket with this weather?” Hinata asked confused.

“He got here on a flying rug, dumbass. It’s cold up there.” Kageyama grumbled with a glare slapping the back of his head.

“It was a carpet.” Nishinoya corrected cleverly “Haven’t you seen Aladdin?”

So they did notice that he’d gotten there in a magic carpet.

“So you did see me flying in it.” Akaashi voiced.

“That rug wasn’t there before and neither were you. It’s only logic.” Kageyama explained with a frown.

“It’s a carpet, dumbass!” Hinata imitated playfully slapping his back.

“Hey!” Kageyama complained shooting him an annoyed look.

Hinata hopped up as if he had springs. He was laughing at Kageyama’s look.

“Catch me if you can, dumbass!” He jeered, pulling down his eyelid and showing him his tongue.

As Akaashi stood up and rolled the magic carpet, Kageyama stood up as well and chased a cackling Hinata down the beach into the sea and the (now starting to set) sun yelling his trademark ‘Dumbass Hinata!’

“One would think that they’d grow out of that as they aged.” Daichi shook his head with a sigh.

Suga patted his back understandingly and sighed too.

 

That was a cute scene to break the flow but the show must go on.

 Akaashi’s mission wasn’t over yet.

He still had some memories to trigger and a wedding to stop. No offense to Tanaka, but he wasn’t a real lawful matrimonial authority, so the wedding wasn’t legit, which meant that Akaashi had gotten there on time after all.

Redundancy aside, the final challenge was finally there.

It was now or never.

The wind started blowing stronger as Akaashi stood in the middle of the aisle between the guests wearing the yellow jacket and holding a rolled carpet under his arm.

People noticed him and stopped talking to look at him. Everybody knew what was up and they all wanted to see how that mess would end.

With all the eyes set on him, Akaashi felt his heart hesitate and wanted to run away.

“Live a manlier life, Akaashi!” He heard clearly in his spirit.

“Shh!” Asahi shushed. It wasn’t in his spirit; it was actually Nishinoya in the back.

“Bokuto-san.” Akaashi called sonorously.

And on that moment, Bokuto and Junko looked back and breathes stopped.

Bokuto grinned upon seeing his friend’s face.

“I knew you wouldn’t stand me up! What took yo-…” He started cheerfully but then his smile melted away as he noticed the jacket.

The wind blew stronger and threateningly as Bokuto and Akaashi locked eyes.

And suddenly Bokuto’s eyes widened and he blushed into a hilarious shade of pink as he lost balance and fell on his butt, unable to stop looking at the man standing strong before him.

“The jacket…” He muttered “It’s the jacket…” He repeated holding his head between his hands. He felt a sharp pain in his head as the missing piece of his memory fell back into place and everything started making sense.

See, he’d also been going through some rough times.

He’d been having dreams about touching Akaashi, about kissing him, about holding him in his arms, feeling his scent, the feeling of his hair in his hands. Over and over, every night, it would haunt him and he had to make an inhuman effort to play it off, to pretend his weird dreams weren’t happening. Had to pretend he didn’t feel _weird things_ when he looked at his former setter. When he looked at men’s bodies in general, actually, but with Akaashi there was something else. _Something_ _deeper_.

All the insinuations from his friends not only about him and Akaashi, but also between them, the fluttering touches, the looks, everything made sense now.

He wasn’t just being stubborn. He actually didn’t know what was up. He thought they were just really good friends.

Forgetting that seemed to have shut off all the memories of his actual relationship with Akaashi, but now everything was back and he was legitimately overwhelmed. It was like seeing the light after too long in the darkness.

You see, what he’d forgotten was the concept of homosexuality. Or any other sexuality besides heterosexual, really.

Yes.

To him, and thanks to his memory loss problem, the gay ceased to exist. It simply did not exist. Even if two people of the same sex kissed, or had sex it wasn’t homo to him. It was just being overly friendly. It was the epitome of the no homo.

But not anymore! He’d finally seen the light of truth, or rather the fated yellow jacket, which was a close second.

“Gay…” He mumbled looking up “I’m a gay!” He repeated louder with tears forming at the corner of his eyes “There is gay!”

Everybody cheered and stood up to pat Bokuto in the back and congratulate him for finding his true self again.

“Me too!” Junko joined him “And I knew you was a gay but now I have to swims back to hell!” She started crying miserably.

Everybody cheered louder and patted her on the back too.

“Alright, that’s not funny.” Tsukishima stepped in “I’m studying Law, I think I can help you. You won’t be deported.” He informed with a serious look on his face.

Everybody cheered for him too and the members of the former Karasuno-team followed Yamaguchi’s example and threw themselves onto him for being such a caring human being.

“Alright, alright, that’s enough.” Tsukishima said getting away from them. He’d had his share of human contact for the day “I’m not doing this for her, I’m doing this for myself. For experience.” He grunted adjusting his glasses.

Kuroo patted him on the back.

“Yeah, we know, Glasses, we know.” He mocked.

“Shut it.” Tsukishima glared at him and he lost it.

 

And it may seem like Bokuto and Akaashi were forgotten in all that cheering but not really.

Bokuto sat on his ass for a while longer trying to gather courage to talk to Akaashi. It was very unlike him but the truth was that he felt like the dumbest shit on earth. He couldn’t even imagine how hard it’d been for Akaashi to pretend nothing had happened, although he didn’t understand why he’d done it, if he’d kissed him or something it would have certainly triggered his memories just as well as the yellow jacket. He must have had his reasons, he thought. Maybe it’d been fate.

Akaashi took the initiative and walked towards him and reached his hand.

“I’m glad you remembered.” He said with a smile.

“Yeah.” Bokuto smiled back accepting his hand and being helped up “I’m sorry, Keiji.”

Hearing his given name coming out of Bokuto’s mouth was all Akaashi wanted. Well, not all, but it was quite important to him.

“It’s alright, Bo-san.” Akaashi assured with a smile as he placed the carpet on the floor and undressed the jacket “I was burning in that.”

“It figures!” Bokuto said with a laugh “That’s a really warm jacket.”

“Perfect for flying.” Akaashi commented.

“What?” Bokuto asked raising an eyebrow.

“It’s a long story, I’ll tell you later.” Akaashi guaranteed.

“Damn, I really want to kiss you!” Bokuto growled suddenly “It’s been too long since I’ve actually done it!”

“Actually?” Akaashi noticed.

“Tell you later!” Bokuto laughed “Can I kiss you?”

“Do you have to ask?” Akaashi narrowed his eyes in a smile.

And Bokuto cupped his face between his hands and pulled him in for the much needed kiss with the sun finally setting behind his back.

 

Love is like an hourglass; with the heart filling up as the brain empties.

**Jules Renard**

 

 Tanaka sat down on top of the pile of seaweed, feeling quite disheartened.

Nishinoya sat down near him and patted his back.

“What’s bothering you, bro?” He asked.

“The first marriage I celebrate and not five minutes later they’re divorced.” He retorted as he looked at Bokuto and Akaashi engage in a full make out session already lying on the sand about two metres away from them.

“There was no love in that marriage, man.” Nishinoya said.

“Still…”

“Look, man, marriage is a dumb thing if you think about it.” Noya said “If you love somebody, you promise them you’ll stay with them and stand up for them whenever they need.” He stated clenching his fist “You don’t need anybody validating it for you!”

Tanaka felt his eyes well up with emotion.

“That was so cool!” He sobbed covering his eyes with his arm “You’re right, as always!”

 

And in the end they all ended up swimming in the sea and that actually became a bonfire party and Bokuto and Akaashi got together again.

“Where’s the mixing table, though?” Akaashi asked Bokuto as they were lying on the sand after swimming.

Bokuto slapped his forehead.

“Shit, I knew I’d forgotten something!” He scolded himself.

Everyone laughed.

See, Bokuto forgetting stuff was what led to all that mess so it was kind of funny.

But suddenly a purple light flashed. Everyone looked back. A mixing table had appeared out of nowhere.

“It’s Him!” Bokuto shouted cheerfully.

 “Who’s that?” Kuroo asked Bokuto looking around to see if he could see anyone. But there was no one.

“It was Him. Excuse me, I’m the DJ here.” Akaashi informed as he kissed Bokuto one more time and occupied his place behind the mixing table.

In little time everyone was shaking it to the sound of DJ Trawka and his rad mix of the song [‘Can you feel the love tonight’ by Elton John.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctp02AG5Ulo)

“What? Him who?” Tsukishima raised an eyebrow.

“Him!” Bokuto insisted “It’s Him!”

“Well, I’m a him too, and so are you” Kuroo said “Junko there is a ‘her’, and Kiyoko and Hitoka are ‘hers’ too.”

“I thought you didn’t like pronouns.” Tsukishima smirked cockily in his direction.

“Smartass.” Kuroo said smirking back.

“No, you don’t understand! It’s Him!” Bokuto tried again, speaking slower this time “H-i-m!”

“So like God?” Hinata tried.

“No!” Bokuto said huffing “Look, it’s Him! I can’t explain this, but it’s Him! Him!”

“Dude, are you high already?” Kuroo asked “I didn’t see any green in here.”

“I give up!” Bokuto exclaimed, throwing his arms in the air “I’m joining my bae! That’s our song!”

And he left to join his boyfriend behind the mixing table.

“I read about something like this in a book...” Kageyama said frowning broodingly “Something about a cyclope…”

“You can read!?” Hinata asked in mock surprise “Wow, Kageyama-kun, I’m proud of you!” He complimented patting him on the back before running away and being chased by an annoyed Kageyama.

And the sun finally sunk and disappeared in the horizon. The flames of the bonfire rose tall and warm into the night sky giving the beach and sea a soft orange colour.

By the end of the night, as the sun was rising again in the horizon and everyone was sprawled across the beach exhausted but happy with a great impromptu bonfire party, Akaashi and Bokuto lied down, side by side, a little away from the rest.

“You’re cold and sticky.” Akaashi complained halfheartedly when Bokuto threw an arm and a leg over him. He laughed.

“So are you! Let’s share some body heat!” Bokuto suggested, grinning.

That was so lame and so cute. Akaashi grabbed his face with both hands and pulled him in for a wet sloppy kiss. Bokuto’s eyes shone with happiness.

“No homo?” Akaashi joked, softly poking his forehead with the tip of his finger.

Bokuto pouted a little but then he laughed.

“You’ve been hanging out with Kuroo too much!” He complained half-heartedly, kissing him again “Are you still mad at me?” He gave him a guilty look.

“Of course not.” Akaashi assured with honesty and a smile. He was a person who went by logic and reason after all.

Bokuto grinned, feeling a lot lighter now. That was his Akaashi.

He looked him deep in the eyes.

“I want full homo with you.” He promised before locking their lips one more time “Forever.”

Akaashi’s felt his heart beat faster with joy.

 _That_ was all he wanted to hear.

 

And all’s well that ends well.

Especially after a long, long trip.

**Author's Note:**

> I have nothing else to add, honestly. The narrative is self-explanatory, in my humble opinion.
> 
> If you got the obscure references and recognized some of the OCs, please let me know. I'm lame like that.
> 
> And also, if some elements of this work remind you a lot of [some other work](http://archiveofourown.org/works/2228061/chapters/4887801), you're not wrong, that's why this is tagged as 'Parody'.
> 
> Don't be offended, take it as compliment. Your work is popular enough to inspire something else. Even if it's drug-induced nonsense.
> 
> I'm at homiro.tumblr.com. Yolo. Come at me


End file.
